January 23: Multi-tasking….

Today was a good morning. Things ran very smoothly and we were ahead of schedule. And there were some big developments along the way…

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

I woke up early and got myself ready ahead of the crowd.

I stacked their jackets, and also bed linens for Red by the front door.

I had their lunches made when the parade of kids were coming downstairs. They ran to me with open arms. “Mommy…. Mommy!!” I gave them their morning kisses and had both girls on my lap… I joked with them if they were going to give each other “sister kisses” and they both turned their heads away from each other in laughter.

Breakfast was easy; the three ate while Big Bro snoozed.

I laid the kids clothes out the night before, which also included some new socks from Stride Rite (this was a recommendation from a fellow Mama – thank you!!!!). Red put them on, got this HUGE smile on her face…. and said that she was NOT going to take them off. SUCCESS! After purchasing about 30 new socks, we finally found a set that works for her! She is comfortable! She is running! She is getting dressed without a problem!!! She is happy!!! YEAH!!!!

Twin Crazy pulled out the potty from the bathroom and put a big pink stuffed bear on it. We all laughed.

Suddenly, Twin Husky came running into the kitchen, grabbed a small kitchen chair, and ran with it back to the toy room. I’m not sure what he was doing, but the look of determination on his face, and his speed at getting that chair was priceless. Big Bro was sitting on my lap at the time and both of us were cracking up with each other.

Big Bro was tired this morning, but some apple juice fixed that. He ate his breakfast and got dressed in 15 minutes – we were doing great on time.

I dropped off the Twins and also Big Bro. It rained a lot during the night so there were rivers of water everywhere that we talked about. We also had the opportunity to see various worms enjoying the wetness. We talked about the worms and how they like the rain and how they like to squirm around on the sidewalk when it is wet. We looked at each one since we were not running late on time. I think we counted about 8 of them.

So, there were literally NO breakdowns. I was prepared in advance for the kids. They were CHARMING this morning and ate well, and listened. It was wonderful.

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So now I’m on the ferry – it is raining with rough waters. I will have a lot to do today. I should have worked a bit over the weekend but my family was in town so I did not do anything in advance.

I have one “sell” meeting for a potential partner for an initiative we are trying to launch. I need to look at the discussion document to make sure it will work for this meeting. I am amazed sometimes at the lack of writing skills in terms of presentation – the story line needs to be there, be logical, and address the key points to get the potential partner on board. I will need to review what is in my inbox and make changes to the document in advance of our “sell” call this afternoon.

I also have to make revisions to a proposal as a result of our sales meeting with our potential client last week. We need to come down in price, which means removing some scope without cutting too deep that we are not able to address the objectives.

I have a planning meeting scheduled tomorrow that I will be leading. I need to meet with the Director today to go over the approach to the meeting so we will be prepared and use people’s time effectively. I have some work to do on that front too – and must have it done before meeting with the Director today at 10 AM.

So, that will be a ridiculously busy day. If I can stay on track and stay focused on the above, it should not be a problem. But things always come up during the day – the unexpected. Maybe I should close my door and turn off my email….

Highlights of the Working Day:

I got into my office knowing that it was going to be a crazy busy day. I ran to the restroom to put on my make-up, then grabbed some tea and water, and set myself up at my desk.

When I logged into my computer and calendar, I almost shit my pants. Not only did I have one Planning Meeting scheduled for tomorrow that I had to prepare for, but I had a SECOND meeting for the SECOND forum I manage which got scheduled for tomorrow as well, and at 10 AM!!! Oh shit. I have TWO of these to prepare for…..

I received some feedback from the proposal from our potential client and she indicated that Wed/Thurs would be fine for a revision – so that bought me some time today and I reshuffled some work around.

I jammed on the Agenda for the one meeting, met with the Director, made the changes, and sent it out.

I then switched gears and started working on a “Concept Document” to lead a potential partner through the concept of another initiative we want to launch. The presentation was essentially OK, but I had to add some pages and re-structure some stuff around. I had to lead an internal team meeting and did this while multi-tasking on the presentation. My meeting was at 1 PM and our internal meeting was at 12 noon. I hated to multi-task like that but honestly the deck needed work.

I led the call for the concept initiative and it went well. We need to gauge their interest in playing a larger role – I didn’t want to put them on the spot, so I suggested I touch base with them next week to see what they think.

Immediately afterwards, I started working on the Agenda and content for the SECOND planning meeting, the SURPRISE planning meeting. It is off now for some comments – I will need to sent it out tonight to the conference call participants before I go to bed.

So now I’m on the train headed to my appointment – I miss the kids, but I had a lot of time with them the past 5 days. So I’m OK. I was so busy today that I’m looking forward to talking to an adult. To decompressing. To leveraging this channel so I can speak my mind. I will see the older kids tonight I’m sure – and will give them big hugs and then get back to work.

Tomorrow should not be as busy, but it will be stressful, since I will have to lead TWO planning meeting conference calls with lots of people – and then get my act in gear to make these meetings a success in April.

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My Story…

I have always been a person of extremes.

I am a working mother. I used to work full-time, 5 days a week. I am a management consultant, which can be intense with client commitments and travel. But I also have children. Four of them. Big Bro (6), Red (4), and Twin Crazy and Twin Husky (3). For several years my quality of life significantly suffered and I hit the wall, hard.

I also try to live life versus life just happening to me. I initiated a change in role at my company of nine years, which enabled me to reduce my work-week and leverage flex-time so I can spend more quality time with my children. This transition has really helped my happiness. In December my husband filed for divorce so there will be more transitions in my immediate future.

This is my story. I'd like to share the complexities of managing my worlds of job and family. I'd like to hear from others facing similar challenges - the exhaustion and sometimes guilt, coupled with boundless joy and wonderment. I want to hear about the transitions that you have gone through, are going through now, and have learned from.